Sim racers have to be one of my top favorite video games genres. No, it's not because I have infinite knowledge of cars. I'm in no way a gear head. This stems from my basic manly instinct of loving anything with an engine. I just love cars. I know very little about them, but I love 'em, and sim racers have taught me a lot about them.
I think the first thing people look at when the see racing sims is just a hard racing game. They don't understand why their car isn't taking the turns. They don't see that an AWD car has a lot of understeer, or that the torque and high horse power of a muscle car causes it to have too much oversteer. They don't appreciate trying to learn how to control that car. They don't care to know when to hit the breaks, how hard you should hit them, when you should ease on the gas, and when you should slam your foot (or in this case your finger) down. It all seems alien.
It really isn't too complicated. I mean, people learn all these geeky Final Fantasy terms and learn how to really use strategy in many derivative JRPGs, but something with a similar concept is dull? I do understand that many of us have different tastes. Some of us love the sound of a turbo as it whistles on through while some of us like dragons. That's all fine, but I think people miss the point of sim racers. It's not just meant to drop you in a car and have you drive with realistic physics. There's a lot of strategy involved; especially with tuning.
Now, I have said that I'm not a gear head, but that doesn't mean I can't experiment when tuning a car in a video game. It can be especially easy when a game like Forza tells you what you're doing when lowering or raising the pressure of a car's tire. Knowing that a lower gear ratio gives you a a higher top speed, but reduces your acceleration is great information. All of the tuning options come complete with hints and facts. Tuning cars and saving set-ups for track specific races can give you a big advantage. Choosing the proper car can also be crucial.
Again, using JRPGs as a comparison, many of them let you choose between different characters with different abilities. In racing sims, no 2 cars are exactly the same. You have to put weight, power output, drive type, and engine placement into consideration. A Nissan Skyline is not going to behave the same as a 1970s Chevelle. A Skyline is an all-wheel drive vehicle while the Chevelle runs on it's rear tires. If you slam on the throttle while in a Skyline you'll have little to no problems launching off the starting line. A Chevelle on the other hand will give you some problems. All that power and all that torque is going through the rear tires and there isn't enough grip to push you forward as fast as you would in an AWD car. You'll skid all over the place at the start, but once you get moving, you get moving. It just takes some time to learn the proper way to leave the starting line.
Fact is, there's more to sim racers than just racing. There's a vast amount of strategy and these days developers know that it isn't just car enthusiasts who are buying their games. It's people like me or you (maybe?) who know very little about cars but love them anyway. That's why they've taken steps in teaching you how to play. They tell you about hitting the apex in a turn, and about racing terms like understeer over oversteer. They even teach you how to avoid them. They tell you things like turning while braking/accelerating heavily are no-nos. They're much more accessible than people think they are, and it's time they get their deserved respect.
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(# 0) on 04/05/2008 18:10
(# 1) on 04/05/2008 18:11
(# 2) on 04/05/2008 18:12
Also, not to be an ass, but
They don't care to know when to hit the “breaks”? Poor form.
(# 3) on 04/05/2008 18:13
(# 4) on 04/05/2008 18:16
(# 5) on 04/05/2008 18:17
Like you say, finding a good strategy for tuning you car according to the track/conditions and car type can be just as fun as using Water magic against a Fire type.
Those kind of games do tend to get a bit boring after 10+ hours though..
(# 6) on 04/05/2008 18:20
Your input is always appreciated and never taken negatively.
(# 7) on 04/05/2008 18:24
Nowadays I just don't have the time or patience for Sims. I really love all things racing, but Forza 2 proved too massive for me to tackle. I'll always find another game to move on to, or a more "user friendly" racer to play. I wrote a blog about GT5 asking what people found appealing about the series after all of these years. Maybe I'm just getting old.
(# 8) on 04/05/2008 20:00
(# 9) on 04/05/2008 20:27
(# 10) on 04/05/2008 21:19
(# 11) on 04/05/2008 22:48
But I must admit, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is looking mighty fucking tempting.
(# 12) on 04/06/2008 14:52
Also, you're a bitch. I'm not fat.
(# 13) on 04/06/2008 15:46
By an almost staggering degree. I can still get enjoyment out of GT2 to this day, plus that GT3 Concept special edition was just brilliant with some of great concepts they put in.
(# 14) on 04/06/2008 17:33
I like playing bumper cars too!
(# 15) on 04/07/2008 16:27